Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2015
Edit Blog Post
Across rickety bridge
Off the bikes. Time to walk I've been recommended a hostel called La Brisa Loca in Santa Marta by Jamie, a Colombian now living in Miami. The town, he told me, is a great place to explore from.
He further explained that if La Brisa Loca is full there's another place across the road called 'Hostel California.'
Now it was my turn to raise a eyebrow.
"I've stayed there once" he said.
"But don't worry. I checked out. There were no issues"
La Brisa Loca hostel is up there with the best I've stayed in (the best bring Erratic Rock in Peurto Natales).
I checked in for a couple of nights but ended up staying for six.
Over a beer and football I started speaking to a 72yr old scouser called Les. An amazing character, full of stories of his travels.
In 1970 he and a mate went from Torquay to Australia over land. All the countries now considered to dangerous to travel he's been though. Syria and Afghanistan for example.
The following day I bumped into him at a breakfast bar and wondered if he fancied exploring Minca, a small village in the hills above Santa Marta. I'd
Cascada
In the jungle picked up some information in the hostel foyer about it and it looked a good place to have lunch and explore.
Twenty minutes later we were sat at a corner bar waiting for a collectivo (shared taxi) to take us up the hill some 14km away.
"Do we have time for a beer?" I asked in my best Spanish.
"You'll have time for five" came the reply.
We were the only two waiting and the driver wouldn't budge until the car was full.
"Got nothing but time" as a fellow traveller once said to me.
Two beers later Oman, a resident of Bogota on vacation from his social work duties approached me.
He explained that as a solo traveller he too was waiting to go to Minca.
"If we all agreed to pay 10,000 pesos each we could share a collectivo" he said.
With a third beer in hand we were on our way in a beat up green Citroen.
The road up the hill was unmade and the journey took 40 minutes but, no sooner had we arrived, Oman jumped out and hopped in the back of a motorcycle.
"Donde vas?" I asked Oman, who spoke little English.
"La cascada" (waterfall) he replied.
Blimey. Didn't read that in the information. Les and I hopped on two more bikes and a quick ride and short walk through the forest later we arrived.
In the heart of the green and lush forest a torrent of water crashing over a ledge, cascading into a deep pool below.
I'd bought no trucks or towel but who cared. On this hot, sticky day, I instantly stripped to by shreddies and prepared to jump in.
"It's the next waterfall" said Jorge, my bike rider.
I got dressed!
Ten minutes later we were at the correct waterfall. More beautiful than the first, with a drop of 10 meters we climbed to the top. Yelling out a scream of delight I jumped into the deep pool below. What a rush! Fresh cold water on a hot humid day.
There were few other swimmers there but otherwise the place was deserted. The morning tour bus had been and gone. Fabulous.
We stopped for lunch on the way back down.
The menu? Pork. Simply pork. A whole headless pig
sat on the counter. The owner cutting off chucks for the BBQ on order.
Pork and chips, pork and rice, pork and noodles. You get the idea.
I felt like the customer in the Monty Python sketch set in a café where there's nothing but spam for lunch.
Spam, spam, spam, eggs, chips and spam.
Les knew the sketch and before we knew it we were singing the spam song over a cold beer and pork dinner.
Somewhere in the hills a saxophone player was practising his jazz tunes. The sounds of American Standards, Gershwin, Porter, Ellington drifted on the breeze and through the tops of the trees.
A remarkable day.
On the way back Omar spoke to the driver and asked if we fancied renting the taxi for the day to explore Tayrona National Park. I'd heard it was an amazing place to visit and we agreed. The price. 83,000 pesos each for the day. (Around £25). As a chauffeur in the summer myself in Ibiza, to have someone drive me around for once was not to be missed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 30; dbt: 0.034s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb